My impressions of MSAS

[History Fan]

My PC is running XP Home SP2, with a DSL connection.

I've tried MSAS several times, and am currently using the latest
build. The only real glitch I've noticed is with the auto-updater. I have
mine configured to automatically update at a specific time. MSAS apparently
does so, yet appears to do this on it's own schedule, not the one I set.

Also, when I open the program, click Help, About MSAS, it will list
outdated spyware definitions. If I manually check for updates, the program
says I already have the latest updates installed. Ok. Then if I go back to
Help, About MSAS, the newer definition version is now listed. So apparently
the program has some minor trouble displaying the correct definitions
installed.

This is not a big deal, just a minor glitch I keep noticing.

 

[Ira]

Hi Fan,
I think that if you check you have set your time to a "PM" time using
Military time--ie. 1PM==1300. If you check you will probably find that the
update is runnin at the hour you set minus 1200' I don't recall the steps
but you can find many threads relating to this problem along with the fix.
Luck, Ira



: My PC is running XP Home SP2, with a DSL connection.
:
: I've tried MSAS several times, and am currently using the latest
: build. The only real glitch I've noticed is with the auto-updater. I
have
: mine configured to automatically update at a specific time. MSAS
apparently
: does so, yet appears to do this on it's own schedule, not the one I set.
:
: Also, when I open the program, click Help, About MSAS, it will list
: outdated spyware definitions. If I manually check for updates, the
program
: says I already have the latest updates installed. Ok. Then if I go back
to
: Help, About MSAS, the newer definition version is now listed. So
apparently
: the program has some minor trouble displaying the correct definitions
: installed.
:
: This is not a big deal, just a minor glitch I keep noticing.
:
:

 

[History Fan]

I think that if you check you have set your time to a "PM" time using

Military time--ie. 1PM==1300. If you check you will probably find that
the
update is runnin at the hour you set minus 1200' I don't recall the steps
but you can find many threads relating to this problem along with the fix.
Luck, Ira

As far as I can tell, my clock is set up for normal, civilian time.
I've read that the final version of MSAS (Windows Defender) will use
Microsoft Updates to automatically "push" new definitions to users, assuming
you have that feature enabled. That should be more efficient than the
current method.

 

[Guest]

I think Ira is writing about this post,

Subject: Microsoft AntiSpyware - date/time bug ?
12/29/2005 4:30 PM PST
By: Der Tosi
In: microsoft.private.security.spyware.general

Engel

 

[Guest]

Your observation about the definition versions as shown in several places is
correct--this is a known bug in the beta1 product.

Other than what Ira suggested, I'm not sure what is going on with your
scheduled updates--the updates have averaged about 1 a week, generally on a
Thursday or Friday, late afternoon or evening by my (eastern US) time.
So--your scheduled update should trigger at the set time after the update is
available. However, the scheduling functions in the program have enough bugs
that nothing surprises me about them. Indeed--the update process in beta2
will be better.